Quicksilver Mid Mono Tube Rolling


All, Just acquired Quicksilver Mid Mono Amps. They came with Tesla EL34 and EH 6922 Tubes (Dont know the make for 12AX7s). 

For folks who have experience with Quicksilver Mid Mono's, would appreciate thoughts on these Amps and your experiences tube rolling on these amps. 

Thanks in advance for the suggestions. 
abhi123

Showing 3 responses by decooney

@fjn04 1,385 posts03-20-2020 9:35pm... The mono 120’s are more of a KT 150 amp by design, although I believe 88’s are ok.
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Yes, the QS Mono 120 amplifiers really are designed for KT150s with the larger transformers and higher plate voltages. In my Mono 120s I started wth KT120s, was going to try KT88s next, but Mike @Quicksilver discouraged me from doing so. Popped in a matched quad of KT150s and wallah, never looked back. I’m a diehard EL34 convert now. Like the KT150s more than I thought I would (especially when paired with really good input tubes to sweeten them up). There is a tad more air on top, more weight on bottom, added dynamics - nice linear midrange from KT150s. The real music comes in with good input tubes and 100-200hrs on caps and KT150s. Amazing with electrostatic speakers too. A few other tips to share privately offline.

My Mono 120s were stocked with decent EI 12AU7 inputs and basic JJ 12AT7 driver tubes which sounded decent. Tried a few others. Finally, had to..., 1960s Mullard Blackburns and wow, really nice.

Mid Monos, Mono 60s, Mono 120s. Can’t lose. Point to point, quality build, great value, all very nice. Put a really nice preamp in front of them and they really do compete with amps at 2-3x the price.

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Oh, and, a buddy just bought the Mid Monos. Dropped in some vintage input tubes. The Mid Monos just displaced his higher $ rig now up for sale.  

Johnny R, @audioconnection
Cool - Bet that combo sounds really nice! A buddy had the larger 2905s and prematurely re-sold them because (I would suggest) he did not have amps like the Quicksilver Mono 120s to drive them properly. Only had lower power SETs driving them. As you well know, electrostatics can sound amazing with the right amp matching.

If you like the Quads (i do too) you gotta hear was this combo sounds like too, my local dealer had these and the larger ones playing for weeks - quite a amazing with 120 monos. Large speakers though, very tall.

>> Have you ever heard these 845PX before behind some nice tube amps? <<<

SOUNDLAB:
Quicksilver Mono 120s + SoundLab Majestic 845PX speakers.
https://www.soundlab-speakers.com/majestic-px.html


@abhi123 OP4 posts04-22-2020 7:31amThanks for the suggestions. i do have the Tesla EL34's and GL KT88's .. Any suggestions on whats the best 6DJ8's that I should be looking to try ? Regards
 - What preamp are you using with your Mid-Monos?
 - What speakers are you running? 

Helped a buddy with his new QS Mid-Monos past few months, and the Input tubes DO make a difference. Stock coupling caps are decent copper/alu but I changed them in my other QS.  Mike was selling them with JJ / EI tubes and lately some generic Chinese  x7s in another amp another friend got last week. Both complained about brightness at first, partly due to break-in needed.  Tried  vintage 6DJ8, JAN military, Valvo, Tungsram, and a few other vintage 12AX7s.  Sounded okay.  Some vintage tubes in the QS preamp helped a lot, but ODDLY enough new non-vintage PSVANE 12Ax7-T MKII actually worked well for HIM in the Mid-Monos.  The first time I tried PSVANE in my Mono 120s, did not work well - had to run mid 60s Blackburn Mullards in mine. However, he's happy as a clam with PSVANE in the mid-monos, fwiw, but his speakers are 97db sensitivity. Was not expecting them to work well for his amp, but they did. It really does matter what else is running in your system. starting at the source and preamp, interconnects too.